


moments like these

by castielwholmes



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-19 23:20:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19982221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/castielwholmes/pseuds/castielwholmes
Summary: ESO round 2 prompt fill!147: post-grad chiakana living together! i'd like to think chiaki still works as a stuntman





	moments like these

Chiaki knows that if he's involved, life will never be quiet. It's just who he is, someone who thrives off of chaos and loud laughter and the theme song from his favorite tokusatsu blaring from the TV. 

But sometimes, he's come to realize, the silence can be nice. Especially when that silence is spent in the presence of one Shinkai Kanata. He's learned to love the peaceful moments where neither of them need to say anything, and the only sound is the "puka puka" of Kanata's breath that harmonizes with the bubbling of the fish tank in the middle of the room.

There aren’t many things that can quell the raging fire burning bright within Chiaki’s heart, but a gentle touch from his boyfriend or a glance into the emerald eyes he’s come to consider home can bring it down to a bonfire full of roasted potatoes and surrounded by laughter. He’d say this is one of the many things he loves about Kanata, but if he said that then it’d be hard to stop himself from listing all the  _ other _ things. Which he could, of course, and he has many times. But as the list goes on the points become more and more mundane, like the way Kanata holds his chopsticks a certain way when he’s eating something he doesn’t really like and how he wiggles his toes when they’re watching a movie and it gets intense and the way all of his stuffed sea creatures need to be displayed just right or he gets this adorably grumpy look every time he looks at them. And right now, Chiaki thinks it would be a better use of his time to just feel his sleeping boyfriend’s warmth by his side. 

_ It really is good to be home. _

He’d spent the past week going between hotels during the filming of his guest appearance in the revival of a hero show his mom loved when she was little, and despite this being the chance of a lifetime he couldn’t help but notice that something was missing during those few off hours. Of course, it wasn’t a mystery what that something was. The other cast and crew members would often tease him about the “Kanata-chan” who was always calling him, once or twice even in the middle of filming when Chiaki had completely forgotten he even had his phone on him. They loved bringing up how it didn’t matter how in-character he had gotten or how many times Kanata had called that day alone, his face would always switch from serious to elated in a heartbeat when he heard his special ringtone. He never minded when they called him whipped or smitten, or when he’d tell Kanata he loves him and someone near him would echo “He loves you!”. Why would he, when it’s all true? Yeah, Kanata never called to talk about things that many people would consider all that important, but when he’d excitedly repeat half the things he’d already told him that day during their last phone call before bed Chiaki couldn’t help but hang on to every word. “Come back soon to me and the ‘children,’ okay?”

The children in question are, of course, the fish. Kanata never bothered naming them in the past, but when he came home one day with three new ones colored green, yellow, and black, there was no doubt as to what they would be called. Midori, Shinobu, and Tetora fit into the little ecosystem Kanata had built up without a problem, and right now Chiaki can see the three of them swimming happily (he thinks?) together around the main tank. Next to it are a few smaller tanks for more territorial fish or ones with different environmental needs, like the gorgeous purple betta fish Kanata had named for his kouhai in the Marine Life Club or the blue-spotted octopus named after Hibiki. Chiaki had suggested naming a particularly energetic fish after Mikejima, but the look on Kanata’s face quickly shut him down (though on more than one occasion he’s heard him scolding a “rogue” for disturbing the others). Currently that one seems to be provoking a bright red hawkfish named after Kiryu. Now that he thinks about it, he’s wondering if Kanata’s naming sense is based on sentiment or just a lack of creativity.

“Chiaki? Are you starting to discover the ‘ocean’s beauty’?” The gentle voice of his beloved nudges him away from the fish tanks and back to the current moment. Kanata’s eyes are shining, and Chiaki presses a kiss to his forehead.

“I already discovered you, didn’t I?” he says softly. Kanata giggles. “I was just thinking about you, that’s all.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you, silly. But I’m always thinking about you, so it’s not really that important.”

“Chiaki is important.” By this point Kanata has practically made his way into his lap, taking his left hand in his own to admire the rings they’d exchanged shortly before Yumenosaki’s graduation ceremony. “I am always ‘thinking’ about you too. I missed you.”

“Maybe next time I’ll send some of your tapes over,” Chiaki suggests. “They only wanted me this time but I bet they’d love you once they saw you!” Most of his jobs are solo, given he’s mostly brought in for the more dangerous scenes, but if he gets another big role he can’t think of anything better than having Kanata by his side. He’s never had too much trouble memorizing lines for their hero shows, and maybe a little improv wouldn’t hurt. “It’s a lot of fun! Everyone there is so passionate about heros, and sometimes there’s kids on set who won a chance to see us! Usually they’re there for the stars, but there were a couple who meant me when they called for “Red”.” He laughs at the memory. “One time one of them asked where Blue was, you remember? When I brought back that dolphin plush for you? I bet if we were both there we could make a lot of people really happy!”

Kanata doesn’t seem to have been listening too well, but he nods anyway. “It would make Chiaki happy?” 

“Yeah, of course!”

“Then it would make ‘me’ happy too. Is that too selfish a ‘reason’ to grant a- oh?” Overwhelmed with joy, Chiaki hugs Kanata as tight as he can before he has a chance to finish his thought. “Haha, Chiaki is like an ‘octopus’.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” Chiaki will never get enough of Kanata’s smile. How lucky is he that he gets to be the reason for it so often, and that this’ll be the case for the rest of their lives?

He supposes that theoretically at this point he could call Kanata his fiancé, after what was basically a proposal before their graduation ceremony, or at least he could if the word didn’t nearly set his face on fire with how flustered it makes him. Kanata’s never been one for labels, though. Mostly he just refers to him as “his hero” or “his Chiaki”. He hopes that someday he can be happy calling him his husband, though.

There it is, the blood rushing to his face that makes him hide in Kanata’s shoulder. “Chiaki is always so warm,” Kanata says, giggling. “Even if I were a ‘sculpin’, Chiaki would be the ‘glycoprotein’ that keeps me from freezing.”

“I don’t know what that means, but I think it sounds romantic?” Kanata’s fish talk is always a mystery to him, but considering all his tokusatsu references that his boyfriend doesn’t understand he thinks they’re pretty even. The feelings get across either way. Kanata responds with a kiss rather than words, so he figures his guess was right.

The blue haired boy points at a pair of fish swimming around the largest tank together. “Those are ‘French angelfish’, you know? They are very special. If Chiaki were a fish, I think you would be that.”

Chiaki looks closer. He doesn’t see anything about them that particularly stands out or anything. They aren’t even red at all. “Why’s that, Kanata?”

“They only have one ‘partner’ their whole lives. And I want… I want to be with Chiaki forever. So if we were French angelfish, I would be ‘happy’, I think.” Chiaki doesn’t even bother holding back the tears forming in his eyes.

“Silly, we already promised that, remember?” He takes Kanata’s hand, playing with his ring. “We’ve promised that a lot of times, and I never break my promises.”

Kanata’s face slowly spreads into a content smile. “That’s right. Chiaki is my angelfish.”

“And you’re my angel… and my fish!”

“Chiaki. That was ‘stupid’.”

“I thought it was clever!”

“No.”

Their conversation ends there, as the pair decides they’ve talked long enough and would much rather be kissing each other. But the knowledge of the many, many years they have ahead of them for many, many more conversations makes them very eager for what’s to come.

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> to whoever requested this: i hope you enjoy it!!! i’ve always wanted to write smth with this prompt but never got around to it so thank you for the inspiration!!  
> to everyone else: i hope you liked this too! kudos/comments are always appreciated ^^


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